The first International Women’s Day was honored in March, 1911. Since then, this international holiday is celebrated on March 8. The day focuses on issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women It’s a day of collective global activism and celebration that belongs to all those committed to forging women’s equality. For more information, please visit International Women’s Day.
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson, better known as a “human computer,” was born in White Virginia on August 26, 1918. She was the youngest of four born to Joylette Coleman, an educator, and her dad, Joshua Coleman, a lumberman, handyman, and farmer. Because of segregation laws, public schooling for African-American students was prohibited past the eighth grade, yet, the Colemans made it possible for their children to enroll in school Institute, West Virginia on the campus of West Virginia State College where Katherine bloomed in mathematics at the early age of ten and graduated high school at 14. Growing up she carried an aptitude for math equations when it came to her naturally. Because of her rapid learning, she matriculated at WVSC where she was mentored in all sorts of math, and graduated with mathematics and French degrees and highest honors in 1937 at 18 years old. Johnson was the first African-American to attend graduate school at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia as she embarked to change the world.
Johnson took a teaching role in Virginia but took a break to have a family with her first supportive husband, James Goble. In 1953, Katherine Johnson returned active when she heard about NACA hiring, leading her to join NASA’s Space Task Group. There, she would confirm security in success specifically for Alan Shepard and John Glenn with her calculations on orbits in space missions. Johnson didn’t start out highly positioned for her talent but instead worked in a room of women “computers” who did tedious tasks such as deciphering data. When a shift in her task was made and she needed to help an all-male flight research team with a few tweaks, Katherine made the mission possible, even after being told to return to the room of women. She has also achieved many honors and accomplishments, with the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 being her greatest. After her committed drive to embrace her intelligence, Katherine Johnson made the world a more inclusive place where women are inspired to pursue their strengths and break limits.
Bessie Coleman
Born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, Bessie Coleman was raised to work in the cotton fields to help provide for her poor family while schooling in a cramped segregated school. Her attraction to owning a plane and flight school was lit when she was educated about World War One, sadly, racism, economics, and sexism were constant setbacks in her life and many others. Later in life, she claimed to be more than a stereotype and earned the title of the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license, moving upcoming generations.
Due to race and gender, Coleman was rejected by every aviation school she reached out to in the U.S. which sparked the idea to travel to France which got her accepted at Caudron Brothers’ School of Aviation in Le Crotoy in 1920. Just a year later, she ultimately attained her pilot’s license from Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15 as the first African American woman to do so after constant rejection and societal doubt. She returned to the U.S. and continued striving and surprising society as a trailblazer in flight and touching the hearts of millions of African Americans and women.
Her popular “loop-the-loops” gained fame around her name where she advocated equality, empowerment, and education for unfortunate individuals. She received much recognition in 2001 and 2006 inducted into the National Women’’s and Aviation Hall of Fame. Although Bessie Coleman passed away from a 2000-foot-high plane crash on April 30, 1926, her work continues to improve the world in 2024.
Ann Daniels
Born and raised in 1964 in Bradford, England, Ann Daniels grew up with four older brothers, an insurance salesman father, and a secretary mother. Surrounded by influential people, her passion for exploration was encouraged. Her earlier years were spent climbing tall trees, jumping across wide rivers, and being a dare-devil, proving girls can be just as brave. She worked at the NatWest Bank shortly before she embraced motherhood to triplets in 1994 with her first marriage and later added a daughter to her second partner on April 23, 2003, showing how much of a challenge she could handle.
Famously known as a fearless world record holder and a top British adventures, Ann commenced her passion for exploration with little to no experience but with belief and confidence alone, she was the one out of 200 seasoned women to be chosen for her first North Pole expedition in 1997 at McVities Penguin Polar Relay. In 2002, Ann and Caroline Hamilton received the title of the first women polar explorers to reach the North and South Poles in an all-female team on foot alone, overcoming deadly encounters like frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, polar bears, and body aches. Ann continued to break limitations after canceling her solo travel attempt in 2005, she led men and women through perilous landscapes one would never survive alone, such as Carlin Arctic Survey expeditions with Pen Hadow from 2009-2011.
Ann has dedicated her travels to working with NASA, ESA, and other scientific institutions to study ice data for a lucid understanding of human impact and preparation in tricky situations. She achieved recognition in the Guinness Book of Records, The Pride of Britain Awards, The Foreign Office, and the Women of the Year Awards. Not only an explorer but a motivational speaker who shares her stories and belief in positive mindsets and attitudes that reflect on our success. Ann represents leadership, and motivation, and continues to inspire women worldwide to do what interests them.
